Indiana survives Khalif Wyatt's scoring outburst to make Sweet 16

Mar. 24, 2013
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Indiana guard Yogi Ferrell tries to pass the during the third round of the 2013 NCAA tournament at University of Dayton Arena. Indiana was able to squeak past Temple, 58-52, to advance to the Sweet 16. / Brian Spurlock, USA TODAY Sports

by Nicole Auerbach, USA TODAY Sports

by Nicole Auerbach, USA TODAY Sports

DAYTON, Ohio - These Hoosiers haven't needed rescuing most of the season; for the most part, their 29 wins have come easily.

Not Sunday's.

No. 9 seed Temple nearly pulled off the biggest upset of the NCAA tournament to date. Led by senior guard Khalif Wyatt's 31 points, the Owls went toe-to-toe with No. 1 Indiana, losing their lead with 1:19 left in the game and eventually falling, 58-52. The Hoosiers will play No. 4 Syracuse next weekend in the Sweet 16.

Wyatt's final points came on free throws with a little over three minutes left in the game, and they were Temple's, too. Indiana scored the final 10 points of the game. But the hero of the night â?? of the year, according to junior Victor Oladipo â?? was Christian Watford.

Trailing by two with 2:21 to go, the Hoosiers double-teamed Wyatt. He found Temple forward Anthony Lee streaking to the basket. Lee attempted a dunk, but Watford leapt up and swatted the ball from behind, his right hand altering the course of Indiana's season. Just like his buzzer-beater against Kentucky did last year, a moment etched in Hoosier folklore and frozen in photographs.

When asked if he felt that this block was perhaps more meaningful than last year's shot, Watford said yes.

"Definitely, I feel like that," Watford said. "My motivation is to play with these guys as long as possible, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes in order to keep playing. I just want to play till we can't play no more."

Indiana coach Tom Crean interrupted his senior.

"Think you can sell as many pictures of that?" he joked.

Blocks aren't as flashy as the big shots, which is why most looking at the Indiana-Temple game will focus on Oladipo's wide-open 3-pointer that gave Indiana a four-point lead with 15 seconds left, securing the victory.

"Your heart just kind of drops," said Wyatt, quietly in the Temple locker room. "Once he hit that shot, it was basically over."

Two Watford free throws with five seconds left iced the game, and the Hoosiers survived their scare. A night earlier, the first No. 1 seed â?? Gonzaga â?? fell to a No. 9 seed.

"That was relief," Crean said. "Our guys in the second half, they never wavered on the belief they could and would win the game. We played defense the way we're supposed to play it for the entire game. We made life harder for as good a player as we've faced â?? in my mind all year â?? in Wyatt.

"It was just a matter of time, I think, the way our guys approached it, that things would break for them. If we just continued to defend, if we continued to do our best job of taking Wyatt away, and we continued to get good shots and good ball movement and get the ball inside out on offense."

The way the shots fell, Temple started to struggle and the stars seemed to align at the end of the game prompted post-game questions about these Hoosiers being a team of destiny.

Only time will tell.

"I don't know about destiny," Oladipo said. "I believe in it, but at the same time, nothing is given to anybody. You've got to go out there and work for whatever you want.